Federal agents and Cherry Hill police haven’t gone to sleep on Taking a Break, the Norman Rockwell painting stolen from a home in the South Jersey community on June 30, 1976, and which is still missing four decades later.
On last week’s anniversary of the burglary, the FBI’s Philadelphia Division renewed a public plea for information that may tip agents to the whereabouts of the 25-inch by 28–1/2-inch illustration and the identity of its thief.
The oil-on-canvas work is known alternately as Boy Asleep with Hoe or Lazybones and dates to 1919, Rockwell’s first year of illustrating covers for the Saturday Evening Post. The image graced the cover of the publication on Sept. 6, 1919. It depicts a boy in red suspenders and brown knickers reclining against a tree while taking a nap. A straw hat rests at his feet and a garden hoe between his legs. A white and brown dog snuggles to his hip.
Authorities have not disclosed the value of the painting. Other Rockwell Post covers have fetched $1 million or more at auction, although Taking a Break is not considered one of the illustrator’s most iconic works. The painting is logged in the FBI’s National Stolen Art File and Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database.
In 2004, the FBI established a rapid deployment Art Crime Team comprised of 16 special agents assigned to field offices across the country who are responsible for addressing art and cultural property crime cases in their assigned regions. Since its inception, the team has recovered more than 2,650 items valued at more than $150 million.
Call 215–418–4000 or visit tips.fbi.gov to submit information. Tipsters may remain anonymous. ••
